Rick Pitino Compares St. John's to Deion Sanders' Colorado; Eyed 'Different Culture'

St. John's men's basketball coach Rick Pitino may have 12 new players this fall, but he says the challenge he faced in Queens was different than Deion Sanders' complete overhaul of Colorado Buffaloes football.

"It was tough, but the difference between Deion, Deion had a lot of players weren't ready to play at that level," Pitino said on ESPN SportsCenter Thursday. "I had really good players at St. John's, Mike Anderson did a tremendous job recruiting. I just wanted a whole different culture. But the guys that were here, they could play."

Pitino's comments come around the one-minute mark of the video below.

Excepting returning center Joel Soriano, Pitino is coaching an almost entirely new team in his first season at the helm of St. John's after adding 10 transfers and two freshmen this offseason.

Sanders went through a similar roster overhaul prior to his first season on the sideline of Colorado, where he brought in 86 new players to the Buffaloes.

Pitino said during his introductory press conference in March that "a lot" of the team's players would not be returning because he needed players who were "total, over-the-top in love with the game of basketball," per The Athletic's Dana O'Neil.

"And if you're not, it's just a bad fit with me. It doesn't work," Pitino said said then. "So there will be a lot of players who, I hope, will move on to greener pastures."

Pitino will now hope installing this new culture will help the Red Storm bounce back from consecutive 15-loss seasons.